A couple firsts...

With a baby, there are always firsts. While we have experienced a bunch of them, these TEETHING firsts are not fun! Gunnar's 1st tooth popped through on Saturday! I knew that his teeth were probably bothering him, but did not expect to feel in his mouth and actually FEEL a tooth! I was blown away! My little baby is getting teeth?? Along with this first tooth comes waking up 2-3 times a night, drooling, and putting everything to his mouth! We'll get through it, and like everything else from birth till now, I don't expect it to be easy :) Once his tooth is big and white and visible, I'll get a picture of it. For now we can see it if we look hard, and you can feel that sharp little guy growing more every day.

Another first for Gunnar, was getting to see his Daddy brand! Of course, he attended his first branding at 3 weeks of age, but getting to see Dad brand was even cooler! :) Painters got some new calves in, and they are in the corrals behind our house, and have become Nathan's little project. Needless to say, while it has been time consuming, he does enjoy "his" calves! Yesterday Joe wanted Nathan to vaccinate, brand, and castrate them. Since the weather was gorgeous, Gunnar and I ventured out, of course, with camera in hand. Here are a few step by step pictures of the branding...

First he shaved the Right hip

Then he took UT branding iron and branded the calf

END result-A beautiful brand!

Castrating this bull

Gunnar's view of REX!

This last weekend was a fun one! We had Jim Adkins from Brookings staying with us, since West River Deer opened. He didn't go home with a buck, but did get a doe. On top of hunting, we had 2 Game Wardens for supper on Saturday night, so I got to play Betty Crocker! Sunday was a relaxing day, but with Jim leaving it left us with a quiet house again, having company is so fun!

While we are having beautiful Fall weather, we are also praying that all the farmers are getting their crops out of the field, and getting the job done safely!

A Growing Gunnar

Today we had our 6 month checkup for Gunnar Sage. He is over the half way mark, and on his way to his first birthday! Where is our time going? His personality is changing and showing through more and more every day. His length is a nice 29 inches long, and he is weighing in at 17.5 lbs! He's in the 97% for his length...no wonder his old navy jeans are fitting him in the 12-18 month size!

Bath time has always been a favorite of Mr. Gunnar's. This last week he has discovered that when we hit the water with our hands in the bath tub, the water splashes, and then he does it! It is the cutest thing ever, and every night I laugh with Nathan, and we all end up wet!

The other new thing that Gunnar has discovered is his sippy cup! It seemed so early to introduce a sippy cup to him, but now is the time! He knows exactly what to do, and for not having very many bottles in his life time, he sure figured it out fast! Luckily we won't have to wean him off of a bottle or a pacifier, since he's never had either, and he'll go straight to his sippy cup! For a first time parent, I feel like we're surviving, and achieving the goals we set out for our son!

A growing Gunnar for sure...Our little guy is growing, changing, and scooting himself across floor! He no longer just eats, sleeps, and poops...he giggles, talks, and dances!

Gunnar's New Hat

This last week flew right by, and here the weekend is already coming to an end! On Wednesday we went to the Hills for Gunnar's 6 month pictures, and family pictures! The weather was beautiful, so along with some great inside shots, we got some good outside ones too! On Thursday we went to town for supper with our friends, Jamie & Justin Brown. While eating supper, Justin had a gift to give Gunnar...a new hat...that says "Big Cock Country" with a pheasant on it...hah..nice! It is so darn cute on him! So here are pictures of Gunnar and his new hat, Enjoy! Today, Sunday, we had a nice relaxing morning and ate a yummy breakfast. After our bellies were full, I had my eye on Ebay. I had been wanting a Cricut, a very expensive, but worth it, machine, that I will use for scrapbooking. They are amazing, and while I figured how much I spend on letters and stickers for scrapbooking, in time, this machine WILL pay itself off. Can you tell I have this speech memorized to talk Nathan into buying it? :) Well, with winning the Dresser Club money last month, I decided to put my money towards a Cricut. SO, today I finally ordered one!! That was my excitement for the day! Nathan's excitement for the day was shooting two roosters-lucky guy! He happened to be in the right spot at the right time! After all of that excitement, we had Continental to clean, and then we took a nice scenic drive through the Cave Hills. The Cave Hills are my favorite, and it was a gorgeous Fall day to take a drive as a family. Here's a new favorite picture of mine...Nathan saved the two tail feathers for Gunnar's room. We're going to get this picture framed, and save those tail feathers, so that when he is old enough to understand, he'll have his first pheasant tail feathers, and this picture to go with the story. My two boys, looking handsome, and proud as ever, and Gunnar wearing his new hat, which was fitting for the occasion! :)

Tomorrow Gunnar has his 6 month checkup, but we are able to have it done in town, at the Buffalo clinic! We have a few errands to run, and then after lunch he'll get his checkup and shots. Bring on the Tylenol, poor little punkie will be grouchy tomorrow!With the sun going down around 4:30, I went South of our house the other day, and saw the "Hunters Moon" making it's appearance. While I was trying to get this good shot, the camera was around my neck, I was holding onto Gunnar, all while driving a stick shift pickup, and having the girls run behind me..needless to say, it was a three ring circus! All in all, I got a bunch of neat moon pictures, at 4:30 in the afternoon, all by my favorite Cottonwood trees, with 2 Bald Eagles roosting in them! Pretty neat, and hectic experience all at once!

6 Months Old

Where has the time gone? Our little guy is growing like crazy, rolling over and over and over again, and then scooting himself across the bed, the floor, and his crib! On October 30th he turned 6 months old, and as Nathan and I sat and reflected with tears in our eyes, and said to each other, "if the next 6 months go as fast as the last 6...we're in trouble!" We looked through hospital pictures, and first few days home pictures, and then looked down on the floor at our little guy kicking and screaming, with a smile on his face. Now he is drooling like crazy, making different noises, and sucking his toes! We measured Gunnar last night, and he's measuring in at 28 1/4 inches long, and 17 lbs heavy! Still, just long and lean, but wearing mostly 9 month clothes! I checked my baby book after getting Gunnar's stats, and found that 25 years ago, I was weighing in and measuring the exact SAME measurements as Gunnar! All along he has looked like my baby pictures, and just like my parents used to get, we are getting the "oh my gosh, he is long for his age!" Which he should be, for having tall parents!

I guess you could call us bad parents, since we were selfish and took Gunnar to Rapid City with us on Saturday! It was the only day it was going to work, and Halloween just happened to fall on the same day. Needless to say, Gunnar didn't get to dress up and go trick or treating, which for all 3 of us was probably for the best, because I really didn't need candy sitting around the house waiting for me to eat it! He gets dressed up pretty much EVERY day, with either me or my mom when she is here visiting, putting coordinating outfits on him! Anyway, after our Rapid City trip, we called Kit & Kayla and they met us for supper at the Chophouse in Spearfish-YUM! We had our Walmart trip left, and then we headed home, but not after getting some DQ ice cream!

Sunday was a lazy day, which was nice. We each walked some trees, and a crick bottom, with the 2 girls, trying to find some birds, but no luck. It was a windy day, but we bundled Gunnar up, and he hung out with one of us in the pickup, while we took turns walking. We also got to witness something that many people won't witness, a big badger killing a skunk. I know, gross, yuck, whatever, but to us, it's GREAT! We have SO many darn skunks around here that Mr. Badger is welcome to kill as many as he wants. We pulled the pickup up to him and just watched him, it was very interesting to see the circle of life. Today a skunk live trap also got dropped off at our house, which is exciting for me, because I love to trap those darn things! And now with it being enclosed, we shouldn't get sprayed as often! Nathan has a pretty low maintenance wife if I get excited over a skunk live trap, wouldn't you say? :)

On Wednesday we are doing Gunnar's professional 6 month pictures, and our family pictures! The weather is supposed to be nice and actually "fall" like, so I'm hoping we get to go outside for some pics too! Otherwise, we are just enjoying our life, and our 6 month old beautiful boy!